MEMORIES OF A NATIONAL SERVICEMAN
TREVOR SIDAWAY
ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS
Resting
in Tangier—at the EL Farhar
Until it was granted its
independence in 1956, Tangier was an international zone initially
administered T o exemplify its International status,
by France, Spain and the UK and then in 1923,
joined by Italy, Belgium, Holland, Sweden, USA and stamps were issued by several countries
With this colourful mix of
Nations attempting to control a
gateway to the
the centre of smuggling of all kinds, including drugs, served as a
playground for eccentric millionaires,
a meeting place for all kinds of characters--many of questionable
background--and a mecca for
speculators and gamblers of all
sorts
British Spanish Moroccan
Its residents and visitors included many talented and gifted writers and
artists including Americans
Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote, the British author and playwright Joe Orton also lived
there as did Kenneth Williams
the much loved British comedian and humorist
The richest woman in the World—Barbara Hutton—was there, as was the legendary
and hell raiser Errol Flynn
It was also the adopted home of the multi talented author and composer, Paul Bowles and his wife Jane
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It was April 1954 and the
three of us—Roger Merricks, John Gregson and me--all
REME conscripts,
were off to Tangier
We were aware that we were going to a city on another continent, which
encompassed many cultures,
including an exotic Arab culture, and we knew of its reputation as a
City of mystery and intrigue but
we were off to a small family run Hotel on the outskirts of the City,
far removed from the glitter of
Tangier—or so we thought
The
Holiday subsidized by
the Military in Gibraltar
We were amongst the first to take advantage of an arrangement, between
the Military in
the owners of the El, Farhar Hotel, which allowed personnel to stay at the Hotel at discounted rates in
return for free issue ration
packs, provided by the military
These packs were carried with us, they
were boxes full of tinned fruit and vegetables, they were stacked
high and it took a lot of
effort to move them around and to load them on and off the ship The
arrangement with the Garrison
Quartermaster at
X marks
the spot of the REME Camp, known as Governor’s Cottage Camp, and the view ,
over the
Straights, was very special
with a constant stream of ships sailing east and west and at night the lights in
the Spanish Moroccan town of
The cloud, caused by the warm
easterly wind known as the levante, can be clearly seen obscuring the
summit, it sometimes settled for many
days and tended to lower the spirits of Military and Civilians alike
The
concrete water catchments, can be clearly seen on the right
A surly looking Trevor Sidaway pictured on a transit pass to
Tangier, via
The
Pass was a special arrangement between Gibraltar and
It
was subsequently withdrawn as relations with Franco's
Arriving
in Tangier
Entering Tangier
harbour with fellow REME conscript John Gregson
Just around the headland was the site of the El Farhar
Approaching the
city of Tangier
The City covered an area of 150 sq miles was and home to
half a million
souls with French,
Spanish, English and Arabic being widely spoken
As we got to the harbour we
sailed past a few ships that were beached and rusting away, we later found
that these had been abandoned by smugglers,
and the scene when we docked was an eye opener.
We were immediately
confronted with a hubbub of noise and activity, and of extremes—donkeys and
carts side by side with
modern taxis and similar contrasts amongst the populous—an old Arab woman,
small, dumpy and barefoot,
carrying a mountain of cut wooden branches on her head, side by side with
another Arab woman,
elegantly and expensively dressed from head to foot with painted finger and toe
nails, her black eyes
flashing above her veil
Striding up and down the key
side was a tall and slender Arab, clearly looking for someone onboard the
ship, shouting something
that sounded like a very guttural “farrrrrh
farrrrh”
It was his pronunciation of “El Farhar”-he was there to meet us and he had
a taxi waiting-a good start!
The
El Farhar Hotel
(also known as
the House on the Mountain)
The El Farhar was on the
western outskirts of the city, I can’t remember much about the Hotel itself,
inside we only got as far as
the dining room (we were housed in separate bungalow in the grounds).
But I well recall the
terrace area, overlooking a small bay, and a pleasant zig-zag pathway down a
steep
incline to a sandy beach.
On one side of the terrace
was a small bar, complete with piano, and behind the bar a small garden
area with a swing
In the grounds leading down
to the beach were the bungalows—five I think—and we were billeted in one
of them.
The setting was very peaceful,
the bungalows comfortable, the sun was shining and we looked forward to
a holiday that promised to
be very different from those usually spent by most military in the bordellos of
the Spanish border town
It lived up to its promise
but we were blissfully unaware that there was a lot more to the El Farhar than
its small family-run image
portrayed
Roger "Brummie" Merricks, Mustapha the barman and me in the grounds of
the EL Farhar Hotel
Pictured in the direction of Tangier
The secluded sandy beach can be seen in the
background, down through the hotel grounds
The Buckinghams
Winthrop Buckingham, an American, and
his wife Ellen
Irene, the daughter of an English clergyman,
owned and ran the El Farhar Hotel. They had six children, five
daughters and a son
The Buckingham family line-up,
pictured in the early 1950’s on the El Farhar terrace ;
Dad Mom and
the six “ kids”
(twins)
So, with five daughters, there was no shortage of pretty girls around,
although we saw few of them except
for the youngest Dizzy (Patricia
Desiree) who, by the time we arrived a few years later, had matured into
a young teenager and had certainly dumped her bobby-sox.
Robert wasn’t around—he was at a
boarding school in
Dizzy was always in the company of her
close friend Yvonne and we became quite friendly but they had a
very annoying habit of switching from English to French in the middle
of a conversation, it was an
obvious tease, my schoolboy French wasn’t up to it and got me a little
riled, in spite of that Dizzy did
regularly invite me to “have a go” on the swing in the enclosed back
garden!
One evening, we messed things up totally by failing to turn up to a
party—we went downtown instead-- we
later discovered the party had been specially arranged by the girls for
our benefit —so that was a missed
opportunity!!!
C’est la vie!
We took our meals in the Hotel, together with the Buckingham
family, the only minus was that there was
another Englishman there, he turned out to be a rather snobbish Royal Artillery Captain from
and he clearly didn’t relish the thought of dining with a bunch of
National Service squaddies-- I can’t recall
that he caught my eye once
during the whole week
To make matters worse, it turned out that he had extended his stay at
the El Farhar by one week and we
had to ship his extra rations as well as ours which accounted for the
“mountain” of food that we had to
carry from
He could at least have said thanks!
A bar pianist
I also recall a pianist, who seemed to be North African although he
wore Western style clothes, he played
some very haunting Arabic music on the bar piano, I’d heard very little
of that type of music before and
although a piano seemed to be an odd type of instrument for such music
it made an impression on me that
lasts to this day
On
the Beach
The small sandy cove was at the bottom of the Hotel grounds and was
effectively a private beach; the
weather was perfect so we spent a fair amount of time there
Top o’ the World Ma and Top o’ John Gregson
The dog belonged to the Arab "minder" of three teenage girls,
formally dressed--cloaks, headscarves,
yashmaks.They stripped off,
almost starkers, frolicked in the surf, dried off, redressed--complete with
Yashmaks and off they went
Even the dog had his
ears pricked!
The day before we left we were joined by other guests—two well built
English women, one of whom was
reputed to be a sculptor—they were not very friendly
World famous celebrities at the El Farhar
So the holiday was over and all that
we were expecting—pretty quiet
and peaceful in a very friendly
family run place made a little more
interesting by the unexpected “ gaggle” of Buckingham daughters
However, it wasn’t until years later,
when I researched the place a little, that I became aware of its
pretty colourful history
In the late 1940’s and early
50’s Tangier was a haven for a set of artistic and gifted people, some of
whom had cultivated a
reputation for a flamboyant and questionable lifestyle and it slowly began to
dawn on me that there was more to the El Farhar than I had assumed and
that, over the years, it had
played host to some of these personalities
Amongst these was Truman Capote, the
legendary American writer, best known for writing
“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and
for the massive success of his non-fiction book “In Cold Blood” this was
published in 1966 and made into a
To celebrate its success he
staged what is accepted as the biggest and best party ever seen in
New York City with guests from
the world of high society, politics and the arts
The list included such
luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Mia Farrow, Arthur
Miller, Lauren Bacall,
Henry Ford 11,
Henry Fonda, Darryl F Zanuk, Gregory Peck, Vincente Minelli to name but
a few
It was called the “Black and
White Ball” all the men in black tie and all the women in white and it
marked the end of an era as
the “Party to end all Parties”
He went on to have other stories
turned into movies and in 2005, the
was released and won an Oscar for its leading
man—Phillip Seymour Hoffman
Truman Capote Dancing with Marilyn
He
was less than 5ft 4in tall and was openly gay
He died in 1984, aged 59, from liver disease complicated
by multiple drug intoxication, symptoms of his
flamboyant and often outrageous lifestyle
Truman Capote on the beach at the EL Farhar
Truman Capote on the left and Cecil
Beaton second right with
the headband
Jane Bowles is looking out to
sea
For many years Cecil Beaton was the official photographer to the
Royal Family and was a leading fashion
photographer and stage designer. He won two Academy Awards for Costume
Design in the Broadway
musicals “Gigi” and “My Fair Lady” and four Tony Awards. He was knighted in 1972
Alec Guinness comes to tea at the El Farhar
The picture on the left of Mr and Mrs Buckingham was taken at one of their five
daughters weddings
Behind them, sporting an eye-patch, is a Michael Scott, he lived in a very large
house on the headland
behind the El Farhar—it can be seen as a white blob, over the shoulder
of Roger
Merricks in
one of
the earlier photos
He was a family friend and on one occasion when he was invited round to
tea at the El Farhar he asked
if it was OK to bring along a friend who was staying with him—that
someone happened to be none other
than Alec Guiness
I’m told that the Buckingham’s youngest daughter Dizzy bumped
into him in the living room and hasn’t
been the same since
The year was likely to be 1953
when he was in filming both in
“The Captains
The story line was of a ferry
captain who had wives in both ports and made the most of it!
Paul
and Jane Bowles at the El Farhar
Paul Bowles and his wife Jane were writers and Paul in
particular was a multi-talented and very
successful writer, composer and translator of European and Arabic
stories
For many years Tangier was his adopted home and in the late 40’s he
rented one of the bungalows at the
El Farhar on a long lease keeping company with the many gifted,
sometimes notorious, and often very
rich people who found their way there.
His first novel—The Sheltering Sky—written in 1949, was made into a
of his short stories were brought to the screen in
“Halfmoon”
One of the stories—
A downed American WW2 pilot
at the El Farhar
During WW2 the American owner of the El Farhar,
intelligence for the Anglo American authorities in Tangier and on one
occasion smuggled a downed
American Pilot into the Hotel, took care of him, and finally rowed him
out from the beach to a waiting
submarine
Details of his wartime activities are mentioned in the book
about the
So
the El Farhar, rather than the stereotyped small, family owned,
out
of town Hotel that three REME conscripts from
expecting,
was in reality a haven for a few of the jet setting glitterati
that had been drawn to Tangier in the
1940’/50’s and had also
played a role in the Allied cause in WW2
And the El Farhar
now
The Buckinghams
finally sold up and moved out of the Hotel, into the five bungalows in the
Hotel
grounds—the very ones that we were housed in--and the youngest
daughter, Dizzy,
still resides
there with her family
A recent photograph of one of the bungalows in And the view
from the Hotel grounds hasn’t
the grounds of the old El Farhar Hotel
changed in more than 50 years
The Buckingham family now